Monday, May 04, 2015

Strib carries an AP feed having a sobering headline (and text), "More than 1 in 4 US renters must use at least half their family income to pay housing costs."

Rent's due. You have to pay to stay. Gouging is in the eye of the beholder ...

Whatever "market rate" means, and it is an awful term for its ambiguity with a suggestion of gouging for what the market will bear, the term nonetheless seems in conflict with "affordable" or "bargain," from a renter's standpoint.

From a landlord's perspective, "market rate" = fat city

I think that explores the several meanings we can give the term, "market rate" rental housing.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has estimated that 12 million renters and homeowners spend at least 50 percent of their income on housing.

And Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies found in a 2013 report that roughly 27 percent of renters were devoting half their incomes to rent. Those levels were "unimaginable just a decade ago," the report said.

Average hourly wages have risen just 2.1 percent in the past 12 months, according to the Labor Department, while rental prices have climbed 3.7 percent, Zillow said last week.

Many renters lack the income to pay the cost of maintaining and operating these buildings, said Barry Zigas, director of housing policy at the Consumer Federation of America and a trustee at the nonprofit Mercy Housing.

Mercy Housing has a portfolio of 12,000 units for low-income people and senior citizens. It costs an average of roughly $500 a month to manage each unit, Zigas said. A monthly rent of $500 would mean that anyone working full time for a minimum wage would devote more than a third of his or her income to housing.

Either the tenants must fork over a greater share of their pay each year or landlords may let buildings fall into disrepair.

[italics added] That "disrepair" threat is what must be watched for, at Town Center. As long as housing rental is a sellers market, Flaherty and others have a disincentive toward disrepair. When seeking top market rents, keeping up the amenities; the pool, the exercise room, the common areas, all the glitz; matters in what the market will bear.

__________UPDATE__________
There is little room to deny that today's housing market is predominated by demand outstripping supply, to the benefit of landlords and at the expense of renters. E.g., the Strib-AP item concludes:

The Great Recession caused waves of foreclosures and layoffs that pushed more Americans into renting. More than 36 percent of people now rent, compared with 31 percent before the recession began in late 2007. The increased demand has yet to be matched by construction and renovations.

In March, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reported a shortage of 7.1 million apartments for low-income renters. The shortages are most pronounced in Nevada, California, Arizona, Oregon, Florida, Colorado and Utah.

Construction firms are building apartment complexes at an annual pace of roughly 321,333 this year, according to the Commerce Department. The rising rental prices suggest that construction hasn't kept pace with demand, according to economists.

So, again tell me, why did Flaherty need all that public money subsidy? One theory, need vs want, he wanted it, and due to personalities and decisions in our town, he got it on a 4-3 council vote. Flaherty employed means to persuade, and was subsidy-successful.

No comments:

Time for Progress is Upon Us

click the image - view the campaign flyer showing Liebling's issues platform in a nutshellAND: Please view this video about the candidate, via a conversation with the candidate - an issue oriented candidate who readily says where she is, on leadership issues that are real and not targeted to inflame biases and passions above reason and responsibility.

Tweet if you IQ is 90 or lower; 55 being best. YES I'M TALKING TO YOU!

Click the image to see what's behind that AP lead image. An EXCLUSIVE, nobody else to touch it. It was Cambridge Analytica and Conway personal polling that settled on that IQ55 optimum. Don't want too much that way for occupying the Trumperville heart of the city. Dumbing it down from Sean Spicer may be a challenge, however, . . . rest assured.

tt's the din that counts.

click the image watch the video.

Democracy Now! posted to YouTube. If you've not an hour to watch this you are as worthless as al may be, unless he's goaded.

TITANIC hubris. PREMATURE prancing.

End forever the "superdelegate" insult. They have had a big-time learning experience, but have they learned??? So -

If Paul Ryan's agenda sickens you -

Click the image to view the progressive dozen. This link, for issue detail from Sen. Sanders.

Chomsky.

DINO NEWS: Democrats in Name Only; they exist as a problem.

a DINO with an up-top money slot

This link. Al Franken in the linked WashTimes item is quoted:“There are a lot of Minnesotans who are Franken-Trump voters. You have to go and talk to them, and you have to listen. That’s what we need to do. We need to listen.” Al knows the score better. Al knows Sanders-Franken voter numbers dwarf that Trump-Franken segment, as to where Al needs to pay most attention, "to listen."

Al, in no uncertain terms, should be telling Tom Perez and the beltway money-bunnies of a new fresh smell in the air. Recognizing (in kind wording) one DINO foundation-family's drift, now, into irrelevancy is far from admitting what's relevant and moving full speed to the Bernie side of the force.

Dinosaurs, DINO ways and means, must and will be extinct (can you say "Primary Joe Manchin and Clair McCaskill"). As Al in the item says; listen. Hear Bernie sounding like a giant asteroid strike upon a DINO status quo. Indeed, primary the poster DINO-bunny of artful misdirection and status quo actions, Cory Booker. Gain attention from that, successful or not. Ideally, send Cory to work with Eric Cantor on Wall Street, where his heart is.

Selfie from hell.

Whose Party is it; and when was it purchased?

click the image, read it, then read the Variety story (and follow the link in it to the moneybags suck-up letter). Then - Weep for the people. They lack great wealth and cannot buy suck-up politician-attention from those making lifetime earnings selling it.

The best President we never had.

Just an old sweet song.

They had a special election which an egregious person won; but then Tom Price held the seat previously so egregiousness is nothing new in GA CD6.

The most substantial and lasting news from Georgia recently is Gregg Allman's death. It happened without any major fundraising on either side, Gregg or the Reaper; with Gregg finally facing "One Way Out.'

Ossoff LOST in Georgia, despite trainloads of beltway/Hollywood money.

Bernie did not wholly turn his back; but unlike as with Quist, Bernie was not invited, nor a focus. It was the beltway Dems' chance to flex their muscles. Bernie did have a pro-Ossoff message. Tepid? Yes. Comparable to beltway DCCC late money spent in Montana - in limited amounts.

Greg Laden authored an excellent OTTO ENDORSEMENT which he identically cross posted on his Science Blog and at MPP (MPP itself does not endorse but individual contributors are free to post personal endorsements there).

Rob Quist tried. He and his family, gaining pubic attention, have shown well. May they prosper.

Montana seems a good state that voted wrongly. From outside of Montana Quist's virtues include being an artist, rebel, populist progressive, and free spirit. Naming their son Guthrie is fine, and at a guess a sense of western history touched daughter Halliday's naming - the Halliday windmill - but perhaps not and the name is based on a kinship genealogy. Roots in Montana with promise for a nation, money pumped from outside did in the candidacy despite grassroots money to make it a fight. We must fight forward from this battle toward winning an anti-plutocrat modern New Deal war.

Art of the Duel.

Minnesota government sees an intriguing twenty paces then turn and shoot situation, the legislature saying we will defund part of your turf if you don't sign but veto; the governor saying "Watch this" and signing while vetoing; specifically, "You defund part of me, I defund all of you, and, bless you watch the doorknob." Daudt needs to have his chum go to the Lexus and get the handgun. Or, but it is Daudt, the other option is being reasonable = another special session to undo mischief that must have been just fine with the Ranger whose name either has two a's or two k's and it's always uncertain for most people to remember which [him defunded, hunky dory]. If there's the undoing of that which never should have been, call it Art of the Deal. An art absent from most zoos. Stay tuned, other channels with more patience for fools, e.g., left.mn where the pathology of foolishness holds a scientific inquiry degree of charm.

Proven fact, for some legislators who truly believe, diminished responsibility and duty applies because Jesus sings The Weight. (And looks like Levon; vice versa. Load off Abbie. Bravo J. AND - 214,000 views of the YouTube is more than folks living in the district. Big time load shift for tracking chapter/verse as party-leadership dictates.)

Of interest. My favorite Odyssey film is Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

Click image to enlarge and read. Or: Read all about it (with links). Website bio. Bonus link, bonus image below, tune time and please, end up differently.

California's S.B. 562 - With an economy and population equaling Canada's, would doctors rebel?

What the bill's proposed Single Payer reform would do and why it may succeed. Noteworthy fact: There seem to not be droves of doctors leaving Canada. Not planeloads nor trainloads. Discontent seems wholly absent.

Alma mater commencement speaker

Two questions: First what was the speaker fee? (Goldman level, or adjusted?) Second, given how Ms. Clinton reacted to election results the day after, why in the world is she not forming an, "I Won The Popular Vote he Had More Electors So Let's Amend the Constitution Together," PAC instead of "Still Relevant Together"? (Such and amendment would be relevant.)

Slick website. Real slick. GMO progressive, perhaps?

Click the image - view the webpage. Too slick? Consider the highlighted word "Bernie" in the context that:"Many of us," and "Some of the people [...] include" begs a question big time. Not a penny from me, until out of the weeds on useful truth; i.e., disclose "most of us" and "Bosses, with 2016 candidate affiliations, are ..." to get helpfully specific. Would you buy an auto without knowing something of the engine?

Tomorrow Belongs To Me. Perhaps?

Click the image for the complete MPP post. Click here for the Bill Moyers post. Click here to Download the free e-book authored by MN Sen. John Marty. Click here for journal article, "Single-Payer Reform: The Only Way to Fulfill the President's Pledge of More Coverage, Better Benefits, and Lower Costs." Click here for pnhp.org - Physicians for a National Health Program.

Click the image watch, and then agree/disagree, but give it a try.

If one party can be made responsive to the people, its one more than the status quo. Learn or be sidetracked makes sense, but propaganda can be "wrong ox" our established Dem ox does not deserve to be gored. Our ox is the good ox, pulling your pitiful little wagon, really. Yours; trust me. Take the time to ponder.

Take the hour to watch. Is it for you? If the Tea Party insurgency brand is not for you . . .

Click the image for the video. Also, Wikipedia, and follow links as you choose. "Primary" the superdelegates since they decline stepping aside? Perhaps they adapt and join for justice. Do your own websearch, find out more.

Glen Taylor's Strib. Feel good news?

The truth shall set you free? What if the truth is that you are consciously being kept on the razor's edge because there you are better shorn?

Bernie discusses a speech he'd heard. A speech with a pair of potted plants behind the speaker.

Click the image to watch a critique.

Buy This Book. Available NOW from your favorite bookstore or these links:

Cause for skepticism. And worry.

All you need is love?

Imagine: Imagine there's no money ... to hugging on a flag ... ...................................................

dictionary definition -

A long-standing definition. You can tell by how the paper's aged.

PRESCIENCE

CLICK IMAGE - watch, think, learn.

Fool me once . . .

Socialism, suitably defined, is great.

Click the image, see a definition. Agree or not but it's free of fearmongering.

Non-socialists, having a good laugh.

image credit: New York Times "And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock."

Non-socialists, having a good laugh.

Brothers in spirit. Holding kindred dynastic yearnings, which got trumped. Should we anticipate better times as we await Trump's competence? Don't laugh for too long. The bar is set by precedent.

Bubba and Blankfein do lunch at the Boca Raton Resort And Country Club.

Jill Stein on CSPAN - questions and answers

Cornel West interviewed on Democracy Now! by Amy Goodman. The reasons why West endorses JILL STEIN.

Having been a stong Sanders supporter and having a minority DNC convention platform voice, West now has shifted enthusiastically to Green Party support of Stein. Click the image to watch the video.

Tulsi Gabbard - Veteran of two Iraq tours.

Congresswoman Gabbard expresses rational doubt over not the military she served, but about continuation of the policy of Islamic regime change warfare and the consequences. Click the image, to watch the interview with The Young Turks alternate media outlet.

ALEC and its class war aimed to hamstring local initiative.

Click the image to read the report of coordinated nationwide effort in state legislatures to curb wage and work condition relief by local ordinance. .....................................

Scahill writes.

What Evil Empire, huh? You're delusional.

No, not dressed for roles in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

Actual sartorial decision making by Cambridge Analytica after doing a full micro personality assessment of each. One as if having a Gilbert and Sullivan role, the other as if a mid-level Russian Cold War commissar from midway along the Trans Siberian Railway, but with ambition toward a Kremlin posting. Brecht died before he could write a role for Yeltsin. Nevermind; Bannon Tune Time.

Bipartisanship

... and I agree with my friends. My friends agree with their friends, while the friend of my friend is the enemy of my enemies and their friends, and the friend of an enemy of the friends of my enemy is -- wait, I lost the thread ... Well, okay, how about this one, this Shia walks into a Sunni bar and sez, ...

Wisdom of the ages?

Make CHANGE more than a slogan.

But wait. There's more ...
-- AND -- There is wisdom to candidate-direct contributing, vs. the generic party collected/distributed variety -- with the former you know what you are buying and, by specificity, you can cull out funding any of the dregs --

click image

DENTON COUNTY, TEXAS, ROTARY CLUB -

"European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

"As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.

"You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities."

Following the link Google gave, there is this follow-up verbiage, to make EU bureaus satisfied, hopefully, and since it's all Google stuff and since I am a person working alone and in obscurity putting stuff online w/o compensation or resources, any/all inquiries, hence, should be directed after suitable user websearch, to Google.

Google provides the blog template used here, and appears to possibly include within it the use of cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse site traffic. Google also appears to possibly share information about your use of this site with its social media, advertising and analytics partners. See details - below (following text verbatim from a website linked to by a Google website:

Where should 'See details' link?

The link in your message may expand the area that contains the message, to offer more information, or it may open a new page that contains additional detail. That new page might be part of your Privacy Policy, or it might be a dedicated cookie policy.

Again, we can’t tell you what to write by way of detail: it will depend on the cookies and other information you use, the other services you work with, and any opt-out controls made available to users of your site. However, we can offer some help as regards your use of Google products on your site.

Implementing a consent mechanism like this for your EU visitors, which includes a link to an additional information page that in turn links to Google’s information about how Google uses data, can help you meet the requirements of Google’s own policies. It should also help towards your compliance with European cookie and data protection laws.

Back to the blog author's text: Bureaucrats are Crabgrass. So, God bless the EU, Google, and their respective bureaus and lawyers.